Rural Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture for Community Development

In the rural areas of developing countries, food security is frequently a problem despite proximity to agricutlural land. This course investigates this problem and considers useful solutions for community development in the social contexts of different parts of the developing world. Governments can operate to relieve food security by enacting policies at a national level, with impacts on urban and rural food security. What are the options and the advantages and disadvantages? Sustainable solutions through interventions in agriculture are also proposed and can be enacted at a local level by government agencies or initiated by local or international NGOs. What kinds of nutritional deficit are typical and what are the agricultural strategies that can address these in the context of rural poverty? How can we design an agricultural strategy for a particular situation? How does the local context of land ownership and culture impact on what can work in community development? A commonly proposed solution is to move farmers away from dependence on subsistence and into a greater involvement in the market. What are the pifalls of this strategy and how can we decide when the local context makes it appropriate?